A wide diversity of computer models are becoming increasingly ubiquitous in business environments and consumer applications. Various prior art docking systems are available wherein each docking system model is adapted to optimally support a single computer model or family of computers provided by a same vendor or manufacturer. In particular, many prior art docking system models are adapted for coupling with only a particular make and model of computer, such as a specific model or product family of portable computers, laptop computers, desktop computers or mainframe computers.
It is understood that the term portable computer is defined herein to include digital cellular telephones, lap top computers and tablet computers. More particularly, examples of portable computers include (a.) an IPHONE™ cellular telephone as marketed by Apple, Inc. of Cupertino; (b.) an IPAD™ tablet computer adapted for generation of digitized photographic documents and capable of bi-directional communications via the telephony network and the Internet 6 as marketed by Apple, Inc. of Cupertino, Calif.; (c.) an HTC TITAN II™ cellular telephone as marketed by AT&T, Inc. of Dallas, Tex. and running a WINDOWS 7™ operating system as marketed by Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash.; (d.) a GALAXY NEXUS™ smart phone as marketed by Samsung Group of Seoul, Republic of Korea and running an ANDROID™ operating system as marketed by Google, Inc. of Mountain View, Calif.; (e) a TOUGHPAD™ tablet computer as marketed by Panasonic Corporation of Kadoma, Osaka, Japan and running an ANDROID™ operating system as marketed by Google, Inc. of Mountain View, Calif.; or (f.) other suitable manually portable computational system or electronic communications device known in the art.
Reducing the complexity of portable computers enables cost reductions and reductions in weight in such systems, to include tablet computers and laptop computers. This major trend in portable computer design increases the value and utility of temporarily coupling tablet and lap top computers to docking stations by providing access to useful external peripherals, such as expanded video display screen modules, memory storage modules, and disc memory readers, players and writers.
Many consumers and business owners possess or use two or more portable computers, wherein each portable computer module presents differing external locations of interface connectors. Yet most prior art docking stations are designed and adapted to physically support, communicatively couple with, and provide electrical power to, a particular computer model or set of systems marketed by a same corporation or vendor. More particularly, a given docking station designed to support a first computer model is typically incapable of physically supporting, communicatively coupling with, and/or providing electrical power to a second computer model provided by an alternate computer manufacturer of vendor.
There is therefore a long felt need to provide an improved docking station that presents plugs and/or connectors that may be coupled to a docking station wherein one or more plugs or connectors of the docking station can be positioned relative to a frame of the docking station to enable communicative coupling with different models of computers.